Page 17 of Dirty Hot Valentine
My eyes snapped wide. “Oh my God. What happened to you?”
Kyle shook as Zach stitched the wound along his cousin’s long finger. “Now you shut up? ‘Cause you don’t wanna sound like a pussy in front of a girl, now you don’t scream?” Zach mocked.
“Can someone please tell me what’s going on?” I urged.
“The bad news is this knucklehead wandered in the storm, drunk over a bitch. He almost froze his ass out and hurt his hand, smashing a bottle.” Zach stabbed the needle into Kyle’s flesh. My eyes begged him to give it to me. I could do a much better job than he did. “The good news is we don’t have to go to that wedding anymore.”
Brandon blew out an angry breath, while Kyle remained still, absent, as if he weren’t here.
A pang set into my chest. How could Zach be so casual about such awful news? “Could you please be a little more considerate of your cousin’s feelings?”
“You’ve known Kyle for a day. I’ve known him for thirty years. You don’t care about him more than I do, sweetness. But Jessicaisa bitch. I never liked her. He’s off the hook.”
Kyle sprang from his seat and threw a punch at Zach’s face. I retreated a couple of steps back with a gasp as Zach ducked without a flinch. When Kyle threw the second punch, Zach caught Kyle’s fist in his left grip, and his right connected with his cousin’s jaw, toppling Kyle on the floor.
My hand flew to my mouth, and Brandon pushed me farther away gently.
“You wanna hit someone? Go hit the son of a bitch who screwed your fiancé, not me. I’m not your punching bag,” Zach said. “Now sit up so I can finish up these fucking stitches.”
“Let me do it,” I offered quickly.
“You know how to do this shit?”
“Yes. I’m a Biology teacher, Zach.” I waved for him to get out. “Please.”
Zach just crossed over Kyle’s feet and left the bathroom. I shook my head and then glanced at Brandon. “Help him back to his seat, please.”
He put Kyle’s arm over his shoulder and sat him up. I washed my hands and put the toilet seat down so I could sit across from Kyle.
I started with the needle. Two seconds later, as if that was all he could bear standing in one room with me, Brandon walked out. “I’m outside. Holler, if you need anything.”
A dark wave of sadness washed over me like a bad omen.Iwas a bad omen. I wished for a blizzard to hex a beautiful celebration, and got a storm that snowed me in. A man finally wanted to take me on a date for Valentine’s Day, then I found out his brother, the one I’d been crushing on for months, wanted to date me, too, but now he was off-limits. I envied Kyle and his bride, now their wedding was off.
Cursed.
I was truly and utterly cursed.
I finished off the last stitch and put the needle on the sink. Suddenly, Kyle pulled me back to the toilet seat and threw his head onto my chest. I gasped, but then I felt his tears on my skin.
Oh my God.My heart broke for him, and tears welled up in my eyes, too. Without thinking, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and pulled him closer. His muffled sobs grew more intense. I couldn’t hold my tears back. This was so sad. A man crying on a stranger’s chest. He must have been in a lot of pain. Maybe if I hadn’t been a stranger, he wouldn’t have let it out.
“I’m sorry.” I stroked his hair. “I’m so sorry.”
“I wasn’t lucky after all,” he whispered, his breaths hot and wet on my skin.
I held him even tighter, but now I couldn’t ignore the feeling of his hard muscles pressed against me. Swallowing, I eased a little, and he lifted his head. A scowl deepened on his face, and he ran his thumbs under my eyes, sniveling. Then his gaze hovered around my lips. “I wanted to do this since the first time I ever saw you.”
I stared at him with wide eyes, speared by the sudden burning gleam in his. My hands settled on his chest, but instead of pushing, I grew conscious of the thudding beat of his heart beneath my fingers. Mine was racing just as fast.
A tremor slid down my spine. Damn. What the hell was wrong with me? One look into those damn green eyes, and I was weak with a longing that both shamed and excited me.
He leaned in, and I made no move to protest. I only managed to say one word. “Zach.”
“He already punched me,” he added huskily, right before his mouth swooped down and crushed mine.
Kyle’s kiss hit me like a tidal wave. The taste of his lips gave me a mad rush so intense that for a second I forgot how to breathe. Without hesitation, I slid my palms down his abdomen, feeling the strong muscles. This was wrong. Touching this broken man, feeling his skin, letting him use me like this. But for one brief moment in my life, I wanted to simply feel without thinking about the consequences.
Just this time, I indulged in the fantasy more than one hot, sexy man wanted me.
